News

Savile relative calls for body to be exhumed from North Yorkshire cemetery

A RELATIVE of Jimmy Savile today called for his body to be exhumed from his resting place in North Yorkshire and cremated out of respect for other bereaved families.

Guy Marsden, a nephew of the disgraced DJ, said he 100 per cent supported families who called for Savile's body to be moved away from the graves of their loved ones in Scarborough's Woodlands Cemetery following claims that Savile abused 300 people over six decades.

Mr Marsden, of Leeds, said: "If it was one of mine who was buried there, I wouldn't like it if someone like Jimmy was in the same place.

"Our thoughts are with their loved ones.

"At the end of the day, they say his grave can be exhumed and they can cremate Jimmy Savile and they can put him in a private place known only to the family. "But who'd want to visit him anyway? I wouldn't want to know.

"I know that a lot of my family would say the same."

Mr Marsden, a roofer, stressed that no formal plans to exhume Savile had been made and he has not been offered any official guidance on the matter, but said he would support the plans if they went ahead.

Calls to dig up the late BBC star were made public at a Scarborough Borough Council meeting on Monday, during which the council voted to remove his name from its Freedom of the Borough honours list.

Coun Colin Haddington, for Filey, said the family of a young child buried very close to Savile's grave was particularly distressed.

He said: "I was approached by one of my constituents who informed me that her granddaughter is buried in Woodlands Cemetery and unfortunately Jimmy Savile has been buried very close by this lady's granddaughter.

"This has caused a great deal of distress to the constituent and her family.

"I put it to the council today if Jimmy Savile's body could be exhumed or cremated."

Council leaders said the decision to move the disgraced presenter could only be made by Savile's family and they had no current plans to exhume the body.